SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS AND ASSOCIATED VULNERABILITY TO SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIOURS AMONG UNDERGRADUATES

Chukwuemeka C. Etodike, Ifeoma C. Ojiakor, Adeline O. Nkwam-Uwaoma, Fabian Okalla

Abstract


This study explored web 2.0 popularly called Social media network and the associated vulnerability of sexual risk behaviours of undergraduates. 422 undergraduates served as participants in the study. The participants; 199 males and 223 females were drawn from the population of undergraduates in Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Imo State University. The age of the participants ranged from 17 to 26 years, with a mean age of 22.50yrs and standard deviation of 1.30yrs. The participants were selected through simple random sampling technique. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study while correlation design and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was the adopted design and statistics for the study. Two instruments: Social Media Use/Abuse Scale and Associated Vulnerability to Sexual Risk Behaviour Scale both developed by Ifeakandu (2011) were used to collate data. After analysis, the result confirmed that there is a significant correlation between use/abuse of social media networks and associated vulnerability to sexual risk behaviours of undergraduates at r = .62, p < .05 (n = 422). Also, the study confirmed that females had more associated vulnerability to sexual risk behaviours than their male counterparts at mean score of 73.44 with standard deviation of 1.106 for females and M = 71.29 and SD =1.859 for males. The study therefore recommended that stakeholders should sensitize and regulate the youths on the positive use of the social media networks while all hands must be on deck to discourage youths from abuse of social media keeping in mind that there are associated sexual risk behaviours with explicit social media consumption.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


associated sexual risk behaviours, gender, social media networks, vulnerability

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aftab, O., Cheung, P., Kim, A., Thakkar, S., and Yeddanapudi, N., (2001). Information Theory and the Digital Age. Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.

Ahonsi, B. (2013) Sexual and Reproductive Health issues of Adolescent and Young people in Nigeria. Abuja: ARHF.

Chandler, D. (2008). Technological or Media Determinism. Retrieved September, 25 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/../tdet08.html

Choi, Y., & Hague, M. (2002).Internet Use Patterns and Motivation of Koreans. Asian Media Information and Communication, 12(1), 126-140.

Eleuteri, S,. Saladino, V,. & Verrastro, V. (2017). Identity, relationships, sexuality, and risky behaviors of adolescents in the context of social media. Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy 32(3-4), 354-365

Ifekandu, C. (2013) Mapping Hard to reach community: Think New Media. Nairobi HIVOS Publications.

Lanre-Babalola, F. O. (2018). Media Use and Sexual Behavior: A Study of Adolescents in Selected Secondary Schools in Ede, Osun State. Arts Social Science Journal 9, 319-328. doi:10. 4172/2151-6200.1000319

Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., & Smith, A. (2010). Social media and mobile Internet use among teens and young adults. Pew Internet and American Life Project, USA.

Mangwere, A., Wadesango, N., & Kurebwa, M. (2017). Influence of the Electronic Media on the Behaviour of Children/Teenagers in Zimbabwe. Journal of Communication, 4, 101-109

National Population Commission [Nigeria] and ICF International. 2014. Nigeria Demographic

Oladeji D. & Ayangunna J. A. (2017). Media Influence as Predictors of Adolescent’s Sexual Risky Behaviour in Nigeria. MOJ Womens Health 5(1): 00112. DOI: 10.15406/mojwh. 2017 .05.

Olubunmi, A. G., Fadeke, O. E. & Osore, A. F. (2017) Online Social Networking and Sexual Risk Behaviour among In-School Adolescents. 30th IBIMA Conference, Madrid, Spain

UNAIDS 2010. We can empower young people to protect themselves from HIV, Joint action for results, UNAIDS outcome framework: Business case 2009-2011. Geneva: UNAIDS.

Wusu, O. (2011). Sexual Health Content of Mass Media in Nigeria: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Health and Communication 3(1-4): 157-168.

Ybarra M. L., Mitchell K. J. (2005): Exposure to internet pornography among children and adolescents: A national survey. CyberPsychology & Behavior 8(5):473-486.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v0i0.1674

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2016-2023. European Journal of Open Education and E-learning Studies (ISSN 2501-9120) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).